"Take the paint down to the concrete and do some moisture barrier work to try and get a little more protection for the interior of the building," said Martin.

"It's the largest piece of public art created by Walter Anderson," said museum director, Gayle Petty-Johnson.

The director says the community center murals are often a highlight for visitors. She's pleased a conservator will oversee the construction.

"You don't want to damage the murals by what you choose to do to the building, even though it might be well intentioned," said Petty-Johnson.

Walter Anderson painted the rather large display of public art nearly 60 years ago for the token sum of one dollar. That's turned into quite a deal for the city, since the murals today are worth an estimated $30,000,000.

Planned interior work includes replacing the heating and air, installing new lights and replacing metal guard rails with plexi glass panels.

Along with building repairs, the museum director would like to see the murals restored.

"They need to be here not just for another two years, but another hundred years," says Petty-Johnson.

Work on the exterior of the building is expected to begin in March or April.

The city received grant money from the National Park Service and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The grant money totals $500,000. The city's share of the cost is $150,000.

Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

(AP Photo/Jennifer Kay). Six crosses are placed at a makeshift memorial on the Florida International University campus in Miami on Saturday, March 17, 2018, near the scene of a pedestrian bridge collapse that killed at least six people on March 15.

A matter of seconds between those who would live and those who would die as Florida pedestrian bridge topples down highway bustling with passing vehicles.

(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP). FBI agents work the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 18, 2018. At least a few people were injured in another explosion in Texas' capital late Sunday, after three package bombs detonat...

Officials reported that an explosion in southwest Austin injured two men in their 20s who were hospitalized with injuries that didn't appear to be life-threatening.

(Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a fatal stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the multiple...

Police have arrested a man in the fatal stabbing of two men at a Salvation Army apartment building in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.

Conway parents were arrested for unlawful neglect of a child after their baby was allegedly thrown from his car seat, according to a police report from Horry County Police. 20-year-old Juliana Biggerstaff and 22-year-old Jacob Lowman were arrested on Thursday after a complainant called police. Officers responded to a residence on Woodwinds Drive in Conway on March 14. Upon arrival, officers located a baby boy with a “visible injury to the top of his h...

Conway parents were arrested for unlawful neglect of a child after their baby was allegedly thrown from his car seat, according to a police report from Horry County Police. 20-year-old Juliana Biggerstaff and 22-year-old Jacob Lowman were arrested on Thursday after a complainant called police. Officers responded to a residence on Woodwinds Drive in Conway on March 14. Upon arrival, officers located a baby boy with a “visible injury to the top of his h...